Should part-timers be out and proud or stay in the closet?

[fridayschild]

One of my team works 60% over 4 days, and a client has mentioned to me ever-so-informally that he thinks my part-timer does not progress work as quickly as the rest of the team.

I have to say my initial view is that this is a load of nonsense, she is very efficient. I'll check her workload is appropriate. But I wonder if actually he perceives that she is out a lot (more than she really is) because she puts her out of office assistant on during her part-days. If you work part-time, do you let people know, or treat it as a state secret?

Everyone knows I work part-time - and I'm as efficient (if not more so) than my FTE at another location.

In my workplace though, all my colleagues (except management) work shifts, and management are often missing at meetings etc, so no one is available all the time iykwim, therefore this sort of thing is not an issue.

Hmm, we are supposed to be dedicated slaves to our clients. No need to work shifts when you are in the office 24 hours a day!

I work part time in a paid position and i dont mind who knows.

Although i would say that it is logical and rational to conclude that a person who works 60% of the time over 4 days is very likely NOT to progress work as quickly as someone who works full time. This sounds like an unrealisitic and irrational expectation issue from the client, rather than a effective work ethic from a part-timer maybe?

Oh I'm completely out and proud. I do answer emails when I'm not at work though so I suppose it's less obvious in that sense. I want to make a song and dance about making it work even though I'm part-time though, because it helps other people argue their cases if they want to be part-time.

Message withdrawn

clients irrational and unrealistic? perish the thought...

I work three days a week (Tuesday to Thursday) and have no access to work email from home, so if someone sends me an email at 4.45 on Thursday afternoon it won't get a response until Tuesday morning - so I set my out-of-office assistant, cos for every one person who thinks I'm a slacker for working part-time, there are ten or more who would think I was a serious slacker if I habitually took over two working days to even read an email. I also block out my two non-working days. I work in an organisation where almost everyone works flexi-time, and unusual working patterns are becoming more and more common, so it's really helpful to have something in your calendar noting the hours you work, as even full-timers might habitually leave at 3.30, or not work a given weekday (one colleague does Sundays instead). My favourite is one chap who has a weekly appointment for 'bairn duty', aka the school run.

bump for the daytime crowd!

I generally "forget" to put my out ofoffice assistant on. Find I get less hassle that way though the occasional irate e-mail by someone expecting to have had earlier response. I'ts tricky. IMO, we're often better vfm than fulltimers as have to squeeze so much into fewer hrs, take shorter lunch etc.

I work in a small team - 4 people who essentially do the same job plus an assistant. we insist all emails are addressed to our team address. that way nothing urgent slips through the net but neither do we have to worry too much about jumping up and down about not being in the office. It took a concerted campaign (including putting our team address and a plea to use it on our signatures) but it seems to have sunk in and now works very well. We're a very friendly team - 2 parents (me and a bloke)and 3 non-parents and we're all very accepting of each other's needs for flexibility - it works very well and I strongly recommend it. collectivity (or covering each other's backs) is definitely the way to go.

I'm in the voluntary sector so it is not so much of an issue. I'm sometimes a bit coy about telling external people though as I do wonder if they will question my commitment (or authority!).

My organisation has a lot of part-timers who are in good jobs so it's not a huge issue here (lucky for me).

I work p/t and am proud, but don't put out of office on e-mail.

This woman, is either good at her job or not.
You sound a bt unsure yourself. You need to assess her workload, how good she is and make a decision.
Either sack her or stand up for her.
Don't let a client say such things
No different to any other worker, p/t, full time, man ,woman whatever.

Sounds like this issue requires investigation.
But if she is good, the client needs to be put firmly is his place.

Sounds like it's the client who is the issue. I send plenty of emails to full time workers who don't get back to me immediately - they could be in meetings/at another location/whatever.

Maybe she could rephrase the message on the out of office assistant, though? Is it badly worded?

When I worked four days a week I didn't spell this out with clients. I said I wasn't in the office on Fridays - lots of people work from home and that's what they assumed I was doing. However, what this did mean was that people hasseled me on my day off. This is a risk, you end up working and not getting paid. So I can see why she puts that out of office thing up. However, it sounds like the way she organises her time is that this message is coming up almost everyday, rather than say, one day a week. Clients won't really draw the distinction that it's for part of the day, and I'm suprised it hasn't come up before. It could be a performance issue with this client but I'm wondering if in your business this isn't really a realistic way of working, given client expectations.

I work mornings until 12.30. I don't put my Out of Office on unless I am on holiday, but I do tell people when apropriate that i only work until lunchtime, so my response may not be until the next day, or ask them not to get back to me until the next day.

I work in Purchasing though and most of the people I am in contact with externally are suppliers, so I am the customer

I am certainly not ashamed of the fact I work P/T nor care about what anyone else thinks - the company employed me P/T, because there is not enough work / funding to justify a f/t position

I've been working part time for 3 and a half years now on and off.

Certainly when I went back part time at my old job originally - I used to get lots of comments about me being a 'part-timer' to insinuate I was a 'slacker'. Also, it was regularly mentioned that I wasnt 'there' enough.

However, I was actually far more efficient than I was before, or any other worker because I was basically expected to do my previous full time role in half the time (hours cut, workload NOT). Hardly surprising I took them to tribunal and they settled out of court .

Its a HUGE misconception that part-time workers are less dedicated, enthusiastic, intelligent, hard-working, willing to progress than full-time workers.

It makes me sooooooooooo

Thanks for the comments. Difficult to see how we can go from a culture at the moment where full time is the norm to the situation some posters have described, where it's almost unusual. But I think it can be done and will keep trying to support her - and keep clients in their proper place! All further tips gratefully received....

i've just started Mat leave but was working 3 days. My email signature stated that I was part time and the days I worked, that way clients knew they weren't being ignored if i didn't answer because it wasn't a working day.